???global.info.a_carregar???
I recently (November 2020) completed a PhD in philosophy and epistemology at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, where I wrote a doctoral thesis under the direction of Dr Philippe Huneman, entitled "The formalisation of evolutionary theory: a philosophical and historical approach". Furthermore, under the supervision of Professor Christophe Malaterre at the University of Quebec in Montreal, I completed a postdoctoral research project that focused on the history of biometry through the computational analysis of the archives of the journal Biometrika. Before starting my PhD programme, I graduated from the Philosophy Department of the École Normale Supérieure de Paris as a foreign student fellow ("Sélection internationale"), under the tutorship of Professor Claude Debru and Professor Mathias Girel. During my PhD, I conducted extensive research on the rational reconstruction of scientific theories by focusing on the theory of evolution and adopting an integrated historical and epistemological approach. In the first part of my doctoral thesis, I spelt out a definition of the notion of "conceptual framework" based on Rudolf Carnap's version of the received or syntactic view of scientific theories. In the second part, I applied this definition to the case of the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis in order to clarify its structure and content precisely as a conceptual framework. In both cases, I elucidated the meaning of the concepts I was analysing by situating them in their historical and intellectual context and paid considerable attention to problems arising from the validation of scientific knowledge, especially in evolutionary biology. For instance, on the one hand, I analysed the relationship between the logical-positivistic concept of "empirical basis" and the syntactic view of scientific theories, thereby highlighting how the problem of devising new validation practices shaped the philosophy of science after the crisis of late 19th-century mechanistic philosophies. On the other hand, I shed light on the connections between the formal and mathematical structure of the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis' conceptual framework, as exemplified, to name only one example, by fitness landscape models, and what I called the "empirical structure" of this same framework, i.e. how it allows representing the various facets of evolution as a natural process. By doing so, I showcased the centrality of questions related to the validation of Darwin's theory for understanding both the history and epistemological status of evolutionary biology. Therefore, my doctoral thesis demonstrates my ability and willingness to critically engage with problems arising from how evaluative categories and practices have been developed and assessed across diverse philosophical and scientific contexts. Moreover, prior to starting my PhD studies, I completed a research stay at the University of Bielefeld, where I wrote a master thesis on the relations between Friedrich Nietzsche and Georges Canguilhem, and a research internship at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences in Leipzig, where I worked on a computational model of DNA translation and transcription mechanisms. Both experiences allowed me to perfect my proficiency in German and attest to my capacity to conduct research work in a German-speaking environment. Furthermore, I guest-edited, in collaboration with Professor Tim Lewens, an interdisciplinary special issue of the journal Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C devoted to the interpretations of R. A. Fisher's "Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection" and Alan Grafen's "Formal Darwinism Project", where I published an article. I also gave various oral presentations at highly selective English-speaking conferences, such as those organised by the European Philosophy of Science Association (EPSA) or the British Society for the History of Science.
Identification

Personal identification

Full name
Nicola Bertoldi

Citation names

  • Bertoldi, Nicola

Author identifiers

Ciência ID
261A-CE62-9BA1
ORCID iD
0000-0003-4330-5077

Email addresses

  • nicola.bertoldi87@gmail.com (Professional)

Knowledge fields

  • Humanities - Philosophy, Ethics and Religion - History and Philisophy of Science and Technology
  • Humanities - Philosophy, Ethics and Religion - History and Philisophy of Science and Technology
  • Humanities - Philosophy, Ethics and Religion - Philosophy
  • Humanities - Other Humanities

Languages

Language Speaking Reading Writing Listening Peer-review
Italian (Mother tongue)
French Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2)
English Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2)
German Advanced (C1) Proficiency (C2) Advanced (C1) Proficiency (C2)
Spanish; Castilian Upper intermediate (B2) Upper intermediate (B2) Intermediate (B1) Upper intermediate (B2)
Russian Beginner (A1) Beginner (A1) Beginner (A1) Beginner (A1)
Education
Degree Classification
2014/09/01 - 2020/11/30
Concluded
Doctorat en Philosophie, Épistémologie (Docteur)
Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne UFR 10 Philosophie, France
"The formalisation of evolutionary theory: a philosophical and historical approach (in French)." (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
2018/06/01 - 2018/09/30
Concluded
Professional Training Diploma in Data Science (Postgraduate Certificate)
DataScientest, France
2013/09/01 - 2014/08/31
Concluded
Graduate Diploma from the ENS de Paris (Postgraduate Certificate)
École Normale Supérieure, France
2012/09/01 - 2013/08/31
Concluded
MSc Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Living (Evolutionary, Quantitative and Systems Biology) (AIV) (Master)
Université de Paris, France
Final Grade: Good (2:1)
2011/01/09 - 2012/08/31
Concluded
Contemporary Philosophy (Philmaster) (Master)
École Normale Supérieure, France

Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, France
Final Grade: Very good (1st)
2009/09/01 - 2011/08/31
Concluded
Logic, Philosophy, History and Sociology of Science (LOPHISS) (Master)
École Normale Supérieure, France

Université de Paris, France
Final Grade: Very good (1st)
2007/09/01 - 2009/08/31
Concluded
Laurea Triennale in Filosofia (Laurea)
Università degli Studi di Bologna, Italy
Final Grade: 108/110
Affiliation

Science

Category
Host institution
Employer
2021/01/25 - Current Postdoc (Research) Centre Interuniversitaire de Recherche sur la Science et la Technologie, Canada
Centre Interuniversitaire de Recherche sur la Science et la Technologie, Canada
2021/01/25 - 2022/01/24 Postdoc (Research) Université du Québec à Montréal Faculté des Sciences Humaines, Canada
Université du Québec à Montréal Faculté des Sciences Humaines, Canada

Teaching in Higher Education

Category
Host institution
Employer
2019/09/01 - 2020/08/31 Assistant (University Teacher) Université de Paris, France
2014/09/01 - 2017/08/31 Assistant (University Teacher) Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne UFR 10 Philosophie, France
Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne UFR 10 Philosophie, France
Outputs

Publications

Book chapter
  1. Bertoldi, Nicola. "Pour une épistémologie historique de la génétique des populations". In Études sur l'épistémologie historique. Commencements et enjeux actuels, edited by Braunstein, Jean-François; Moya Diez, Ivan; Vagelli, Matteo. Paris, France: Éditions de la Sorbonne, 2019.
    Published
Journal article
  1. Bertoldi, Nicola. "What and how does Generalised Darwinism explain?". The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (2022):
    Submitted
  2. Bertoldi, Nicola. ""Batesonian Mendelism" and "Pearsonian biometry": shedding new light on the controversy between William Bateson and Karl Pearson". History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences (2022):
    Under revision
  3. Bertoldi, Nicola. "From the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis to an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis: The latest stage in the development of Darwin's Lakatosian research programme?". Studies in History and Philosophy of Science (2022):
    Under revision
  4. Bertoldi, Nicola. "Adaptation and optimality in evolutionary biology: Historical and philosophical perspectives on the interpretations of R.A. Fisher's "Fundamental theorem of natural selection" and the "Formal Darwinism" project". Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C 81 (2020):
    Published
  5. Bertoldi, Nicola. "Existe-t-il un paradigme darwinien? Pour une ontologie historique de la théorie de l'évolution". Lato Sensu: Revue de la Société de Philosophie des Sciences 5 1 (2018): 50-60.
    Published
  6. Bertoldi, Nicola. "L'avenir d'une idéologie. L'eugénisme comme objet pour l'histoire des sciences et comme problème actuel". Cahiers Droit, Sciences & Technologies 8 (2018): 103-128.
    Published
Journal issue
  1. Lewens, Tim; Bertoldi, Nicola. "Historical and philosophical perspectives on optimality and adaptation in evolutionary biology: the interpretation of Fisher's fundamental theorem of natural selection and the "Formal Darwinism Project"". Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C (2020):
    Published • Coeditor
  2. Bertoldi, Nicola; Soulier, Alexandra. "Regards croisés sur les pratiques de la médecine et de la recherche génomiques". Cahiers Droit, Sciences & Technologies 8 (2018):
    Published • Coeditor
Activities

Event organisation

Event name
Type of event (Role)
Institution / Organization
2021 - 2021 Organisation of a panel on "Adaptation, teleology and function in evolutionary biology", 2021 ISHPSSB Biennial Meeting, in collaboration with Silvia De Cesare (University of Geneva, Switzerland) and Dan McShea (Duke University, NC, USA) (2021)
Conference (Co-organisor)
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, United States
2017 - 2017 Organisation of the "France-NHGRI" workshops: "Genomics and predictive medicine: history, sociology and philosophical issues", in collaboration with Philippe Huneman (IHPST, Paris) and Chris Donohue (NHGRI, MD, USA) (2017)
Workshop (Co-organisor)
Université Sorbonne Paris Cité, France

National Human Genome Research Institute, United States
2017 - 2017 Organisation of a workshop on "General Formulations of Evolutionary Theory", in collaboration with Philippe Huneman (IHPST, Paris) (2017)
Workshop (Co-organisor)
Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques, France
2016 - 2016 Organisation of a workshop on "Optimality, adaptationism, 'Formal Darwinism' and interpretations of Fisher's fundamental theorem of natural selection in evolutionary biology", in collaboration with Philippe Huneman (IHPST, Paris) (2016)
Workshop (Co-organisor)
Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques, France
2016 - 2016 Organisation of the 2nd Historical Epistemology Workshop: "Historical Epistemology: a history of the present" (2016)
Workshop (Member of the Organising Committee)
Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne UFR 10 Philosophie, France

Event participation

Activity description
Type of event
Event name
Institution / Organization
2021 - 2021 Paper presentation: Can M. B. Williams and Alexander Rosenberg's axiomatisation of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection be grounded in quantitative and population genetics?
Conference
2021 Biennial Meeting of the European Philosophy of Science Association (EPSA 21)
Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy
2021 - 2021 Paper presentation: What was biometry? A pragmatic approach to the reconstruction of a biological theory
Congress
8th Congress of the Society for the Philosophy of Science (SPS 21)
Université de Mons, Belgium
2021 - 2021 Paper presentation: Adaptation without adaptationism? Adaptations, functions, teleology and organic progress in G. G. Simpson's theory of macroevolution
Conference
2021 ISHPSSB Biennial Meeting
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, United States
2021 - 2021 Paper presentation: From the archive to a computational, conceptual map: a distant reading of Biometrika
Conference
Conference Digital Studies of Digital Science (DS2)
Université catholique de Louvain Institut supérieur de philosophie, Belgium
2019 - 2019 Paper presentation: How Darwinian and how general is "generalised Darwinism"? Economic change, evolution and R. A. Fisher's "Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection"
Conference
2019 Biennial Meeting of the European Philosophy of Science Association (EPSA 19)
Université de Genève Département de Philosophie, Switzerland
2019 - 2019 Paper presentation: Evolution's invisible hand? From Adam Smith to contemporary evolutionary biology
Conference
2019 ISHPSSB Biennial Meeting
Norsk Teknisk Museum, Norway
2019 - 2019 Paper presentation: A style of scientific thinking for population genetics?
Seminar
Doctoral Seminar of the Consortium in History and Philosophy of Biology Duke-Montreal-Paris-Toronto
Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques, France
2018 - 2018 Paper presentation: The Modern evolutionary synthesis between positivism and materialism: which lessons from the 1930s for contemporary history and philosophy of biology?
Conference
2018 Biennial Meeting of the European Society for the History of Science and the British Society for the History of Science
University College London, United Kingdom
2018 - 2018 Paper presentation: Complex Adaptive Systems and Evolutionary Explanations. Is the generalized theory of evolution a general theory of complexity?
Conference
Conference on "The Generalized Theory of Evolution"
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Germany
2017 - 2017 Paper presentation: Is the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis actually a synthesis?
Conference
2017 Biennial Meeting of the European Philosophy of Science Association (EPSA 17)
University of Exeter Department of Sociology Philosophy and Anthropology, United Kingdom
2017 - 2017 Paper presentation: Adaptation, optimality and the structure of sociobiology
Congress
9th Congress of the European Society for Analytic Philosophy (ECAP 9)
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
2017 - 2017 Paper presentation: The evolution of evolution: A distant reading into the origins of the Modern Evolutionary Synthesis
Conference
2017 Biennial Meeting of the British Society for the History of Science
University of York, United Kingdom
2017 - 2017 Paper presentation: Explaining eusociality. Multilevel selection, kin selection and the structure of evolutionary theory
Conference
2017 Triennial Conference of the Italian Society of Logic and Philosophy of Science
Università degli Studi di Bologna Dipartimento di Filosofia e Comunicazione, Italy

Course / Discipline taught

Academic session Degree Subject (Type) Institution / Organization
2019/09/01 - 2020/08/31 Academic session 2019-2020: philosophy of biology, history of biology, general philosophy of science, general history of science, textual analysis and argumentation, general philosophy, sociology of science History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science (Master) Université de Paris, France
2019/09/01 - 2020/08/31 Academic session 2019-2020: methodology, epistemology and history of medicine (preparation for a competitive exam for admission in Medical School) Preparation for Medical Degree (Licence) Université de Paris UFR de Médecine Paris Nord Site Xavier-Bichat, France
2014/09/01 - 2017/08/31 Academic sessions 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017: general history of science, political philosophy, moral philosophy, textual analysis and argumentation, introductory biology Philosophy, history and philosophy of science, biology (Licence) Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne UFR 10 Philosophie, France
Distinctions

Award

2016 One-month visiting research scholarship
Maison Française d'Oxford, United Kingdom
2014 Three-year doctoral research and teaching scholarship
École Normale Supérieure, France

Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne UFR 10 Philosophie, France
2012 Six-month research scholarship
École Normale Supérieure, France

Universität Bielefeld, Germany
2009 Master-level scholarship for foreign students (Sélection Internationale)
École Normale Supérieure, France
2006 Bachelor-level scholarship
Collegio Superiore dell'Università di Bologna, Italy